Hello 2017!
I’m a little late to the party - the result of the incorrect thought that everything needs to be perfect before I started posting again - but was awake to see 2016 die and 2017 rise like a phoenix from the ashes.
(I also spent New Year’s in Phoenix, so I guess that’s a pun and can be taken two ways.)
So I’m coming to you as the brilliant mess I am, rising as a phoenix from my own ashes - the dashed dreams, the sleepless nights, the loss of half my family and my dog, the pain of a car accident and the annoying line of flames that is my neck, broken bones, two jobs, six residences, etc. - of 2015 & 2016. I’ve gotten to the point in my life when I am fueled by anger and passion and the need to reclaim my life and shape it into something beautiful.
Since it’s been awhile since I worked regularly in my art journal, I decided to tackle postcards as a way to dip my toes into the pool of art again. I used to get mail art all the time, mostly in the form of postcards. Just little pieces of art sent with a simple message. I wish I would have been more on top of exchanging them back then, but all I can do is change the present and future.
I cut down some gelli prints I made with the missionaries last week (more in my newsletter post) to 4”x6” and set to covering them with some acrylic gouache and stamps.
I kept layering paint, switching colors, and adding glitter, allowing each step to fuel the next. There was no end planned out, no place I’d get to where they were “done.” I kept going until I felt like I couldn’t add any more paint, then went at them with washi tape and white paint pen marks.
But there were large areas where I didn’t know what to put down. I could do a drawing, or add a stamped image….and then I thought about what I’d most like to get - encouraging quotes. I love quotes. There is not an expression of love that can adequately express how much I love them. I have tons of them saved, on scraps of paper, as screenshots on my phone, tucked in emails. And they’d be perfect for the open spaces on my postcards.
Here’s how they came out:
Half of them have already been spoken for, but the others are up for grabs. You can’t pick which you get, but you can get one in the mail if you’d like to trade. My address is on my contact page - and if you send me one, I’ll send you one. Even if I have to make more. Because they were fun. And, as part of my new life as a phoenix-artist, in both symbolic and literal senses of the phrase, is to re-engage with the community. So let’s trade art!
I’ll be reviving my poor newsletter this week as well as starting to post daily on Instagram. I know it’ll be a short inspirational video every day, or maybe a quote? Something’s gonna happen over there, so make sure you’re following me on either Instagram or Facebook so you don’t miss out!